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Huynh Thanh Giang (R) and Ma Ngoc Thom (L) at their trial in June in the southern province of Ca Mau. |
The People’s Supreme Court will hear an appeal in the southern province of Ca Mau next Monday to consider lighter sentences for a married couple convicted of child abuse in May.
The second court opened in response to requests from Huynh Thanh Giang, 30, and his wife, 33-year-old Ma Ngoc Thom both of whom are seeking lighter punishments.
On June 29, Ca Mau People’s Court sentenced the couple to 23 years in prison each for “deliberately injuring” and “torturing” Nguyen Hoang Anh, 14, for over a year.
In September 2008, Anh started working for the couple’s shrimp farm in Ngoc Chanh Commune.
After the boy's rescue in May, details of his torture were exposed in testimony for neighbors and concerned members of the community, shocking and angering the public.
Police found that the couple had beaten and tortured Anh with various items like hot water, pincers, hot coals, and hammers on numerous occasions during his employment
The trial also raised questions about the local authorities' ability to detect such misdeeds. Ca Mau’s authorities censured the leaders of the Phu Hiep Hamlet and Ngoc Chanh Commune (which manages the hamlet) for failing to intercede sooner.
